Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Nicaraguan businessmen believe that electoral reform is essential to reactivate the country’s economic activity, which has been in decline since the crisis erupted in 2018.
According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nicaragua’s Gross Domestic Product contracted by 5.7% in 2019, a drop that complements the year-on-year variation of -3.8% recorded in 2018.
See “Economy: Recovery in sight?”
After the last IMF visit to the country, the international organization explained that since April 2018, social unrest and its aftermath eroded confidence and produced large outflows of capital and bank deposits, which negatively affected Nicaraguan economic activity.
In this context, Carmen Hilleprandt told Laprensa.com.ni that in the short term they do not see a recovery of the 60,000 jobs that have been lost, because “… until there is a national agreement there will not be a recovery, apparently everything is stable, but that stability is relative, there is going to be stability when there is an electoral reform, when there are free and transparent elections, that will be an incentive to continue investing.”
Also see “Nicaragua: Minimum Wage Increases 2.6”
Hilleprandt added that “… the partners do not see a recovery of the economy in a short time, but due to the rise in prices caused by the tax reform, business income will not decrease, but there will be a drop in the volume traded.”
Regarding the increase in the minimum wage that came into effect on March 1, the businesswoman believes that the workers will not receive the benefits, since due to the increase in production, salaries in the country have lost purchasing power.
